Her passion for art is advocated by her business savvy.

“I grew up in a business,” said Amy Burnett, owner and full-time artist of the Amy Burnett Art Gallery. “My family owned the B.H. Allen Plumbing and Heating on Sixth Street in Bremerton.”

In 1990, Amy Burnett bought the 14,000 square-foot Harlen Building on Pacific Avenue. In 1991, she opened the Amy Burnett Gallery. (She leases space to the Naval Museum, the David L. Leviton Studio and Craig Alden-Dell, guitarist.)

Burnett is a contemporary, compositional artist, focusing on historical themes. One of her Chief Seattle paintings is displayed at the Suquamish Tribal Museum. She also displays her artwork at the Earthenworks Gallery in LaConnor, Wash., the Jamie Brice Gallery in Sedona, Ariz., the Jane Hamilton Gallery in Tucson, Ariz. and the Sutton West Gallery in Missoula, Mont.

Burnett hosts artwork at her gallery. From March 5 through March 29, she will host the Puget Sound Sumi Artists. Sumi is monochrome, ink artwork, including calligraphy. The theme is “Images of Spring.”

Burnett’s art education included fashion illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and concluded with a master thesis in experimental drawing at Central Washington University.

“My greatest challenge is that you can’t make any assumptions in marketing,” Burnett said. “You work and work. The hardest part is educating the business community. The arts need to stay in the makeup of the redevelopment of Bremerton.”

Burnett actively promotes the arts. She will host “Art with Amy” on Bremerton-Kitsap Access Television (BKAT), April through September 2003, the second and fourth Saturdays, at 9 p.m. She also writes columns for the Bremerton Patriot and the Business Journal.